Over the weekend, the crypto community on X (Twitter) took off completely, with loss stories, criticism and speculation surrounding a memecoin called $LIBRA. What makes the case special is that Argentine President Javier Milei stands in the middle of the scandal.
Milei first went out and gave his support to $LIBRA in a tweet on Twitter, but then got cold feet and withdrew his support. Along the way, the rocket-speed memecoin had reached a market capitalization of US$5 billion, but just as quickly lost 90% of its market value, thus destroying US$4.4 billion in value. The promoters behind the memecoin also chose to withdraw US$100 million from the project's liquidity pool, and have yet to put those funds back.
Memecoins have originally been a kind of cultural phenomenon, where developers, designers and fans alike have built and played with a community around different types of characters and symbols. Many have therefore also compared them to football or pokémon cards. However, with launch platforms such as pump.fun and the blockchain Solana, its scope has increased and gained significant economic value, closer to $120 billion at the entrance of 2025.
The growth in memecoins is also alleged to have dragged liquidity away from more utility-oriented cryptocurrencies such as AI agents and “altcoins”. The AI agents have thus experienced significant price drops, while the oft-repeated “altcoin season” so far in 2025 has not been missed. Some believe that memenoins are nevertheless positive for the adaptation of crypto, as many new users have purchased memenoins. While critics argue that the scale of the scam, insider trading and “pump and dump” launches would rather scare the newcomers away for too long.
What's new in 2025, is the launch of memecoins profiling a high-ranking politician. At the moment we have the memecoins of both US President Donald Trump, with his “Official Trump” coin, the $CAR from Faustin-Archange Touadéra, the President of the Central African Republic and now most recently the Argentine President Javier Milei.
What all these have in common are significant price falls from the peak, which in turn have led to heavy losses for many. Trump has officially stood by his coin, Touadér has denied rumors that he has been tricked, while Milei has now withdrawn his support and demanded an investigation, while other Argentine actors are threatening legal action.
One of the reasons that memecoins are launched in the thousands, without a single regulation, is that they promise no utility or earnings. Thus, they have ended up completely outside the US stock legislation, including the US financial authorities' attempts to have other cryptocurrencies be considered securities.
While earlier in 2025 the crypto communities of Twitter watched with a kind of curiosity at the new memecoins, criticism is now mounting. What is feared is that crypto will once again be identified with pure scandals, insider trading and speculation that not least affects retail investors. What is hoped for is that the market will maintain its belief in Bitcoin as digital gold, but at the same time look more for utility values that can be found in blockchains such as Ethereum, smart contracts and agentic AI.
In parallel, the time has probably come for a clean-up of the memecoin market. Or will retail investors soon tire of being duped?
Over the weekend, the crypto community on X (Twitter) took off completely, with loss stories, criticism and speculation surrounding a memecoin called $LIBRA. What makes the case special is that Argentine President Javier Milei stands in the middle of the scandal.
Milei first went out and gave his support to $LIBRA in a tweet on Twitter, but then got cold feet and withdrew his support. Along the way, the rocket-speed memecoin had reached a market capitalization of US$5 billion, but just as quickly lost 90% of its market value, thus destroying US$4.4 billion in value. The promoters behind the memecoin also chose to withdraw US$100 million from the project's liquidity pool, and have yet to put those funds back.
Memecoins have originally been a kind of cultural phenomenon, where developers, designers and fans alike have built and played with a community around different types of characters and symbols. Many have therefore also compared them to football or pokémon cards. However, with launch platforms such as pump.fun and the blockchain Solana, its scope has increased and gained significant economic value, closer to $120 billion at the entrance of 2025.
The growth in memecoins is also alleged to have dragged liquidity away from more utility-oriented cryptocurrencies such as AI agents and “altcoins”. The AI agents have thus experienced significant price drops, while the oft-repeated “altcoin season” so far in 2025 has not been missed. Some believe that memenoins are nevertheless positive for the adaptation of crypto, as many new users have purchased memenoins. While critics argue that the scale of the scam, insider trading and “pump and dump” launches would rather scare the newcomers away for too long.
What's new in 2025, is the launch of memecoins profiling a high-ranking politician. At the moment we have the memecoins of both US President Donald Trump, with his “Official Trump” coin, the $CAR from Faustin-Archange Touadéra, the President of the Central African Republic and now most recently the Argentine President Javier Milei.
What all these have in common are significant price falls from the peak, which in turn have led to heavy losses for many. Trump has officially stood by his coin, Touadér has denied rumors that he has been tricked, while Milei has now withdrawn his support and demanded an investigation, while other Argentine actors are threatening legal action.
One of the reasons that memecoins are launched in the thousands, without a single regulation, is that they promise no utility or earnings. Thus, they have ended up completely outside the US stock legislation, including the US financial authorities' attempts to have other cryptocurrencies be considered securities.
While earlier in 2025 the crypto communities of Twitter watched with a kind of curiosity at the new memecoins, criticism is now mounting. What is feared is that crypto will once again be identified with pure scandals, insider trading and speculation that not least affects retail investors. What is hoped for is that the market will maintain its belief in Bitcoin as digital gold, but at the same time look more for utility values that can be found in blockchains such as Ethereum, smart contracts and agentic AI.
In parallel, the time has probably come for a clean-up of the memecoin market. Or will retail investors soon tire of being duped?
